Synthesis of InAl-alloyed GaO nanowires for self-powered ultraviolet detectors by a CVD method.

GaO is a kind of wide-band gap semiconductor, which has great potential in deep ultraviolet detection because of its high efficiency and fast response. Doping can improve the photoelectric properties of GaO materials. In this paper, In and Al elements alloyed GaO nanowires (InAl-GaO NWs) were successfully grown on p-GaN using a cost-effective chemical vapor deposition method and a vertical structure. The GaN/InAl-GaO NWs p-n self-powered wide-gap UV photodetector (PD) was constructed based on sputtered gold film as the bottom and top electrodes, and spin coated with polymethyl methacrylate as the insulating layer in the vertical direction. The GaN/InAl-GaO UV PD exhibits excellent performances, including an extremely low dark current of 0.015 nA, a maximum photocurrent of about 16 nA at zero-bias voltage under 265 nm illumination, and a light-to-dark current ratio greater than 10. The responsivity is 0.94 mA W, the specific detectivity is 9.63 × 10 jones, and the good fast response/attenuation time is 31.2/69.6 ms. The self-powered characteristics are derived from the internal electric field formed between p-type GaN and n-type InAl-GaO NWs, which is conducive to the rapid separation and transfer of photogenerated carriers. This work provides an innovative mechanism of high-performance metal oxide nanowires for the application of p-n junction photodetectors, which can operate without any external bias.